Posted on 01/10/2006 8:05:39 PM PST by joan
MADRID, Spain (UPI) -- Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono has ordered the arrest of the commander of the army after he suggested using military force against the region of Catalonia.
Lt. Gen. Jose Mena Aguado was placed under house arrest over the weekend after he said that the military would step in if the government granted greater autonomy to the northern region.
Mena said there would be 'serious consequences' to such a move, El Mundo newspaper reported Monday.
In September, Catalan regional government approved a new statute referring to Catalonia as a country and gives the province greater control of its judiciary and tax collection.
Is this a joke? A portion of Spain declares independence and so a Spanish general is arrested for trying to preserve the territorial integrity of the nation???
The military flexing its muscle against the uber-socialists in power?
Very interesting.
The general does not conduct policy. He was way out of line.
Not according to the Spanish Constitution
Many centrifugal forces seem to be combining to threaten the state.
Yup. It's a shame.
Catalonia has always wanted to go it's own way. A nasty civil war was fought over this very thing. The casualties (relatively) were on par with the American civil war. It was dirtier for the noncombatants though.
I can see why the government is so touchy.
WE, DON JUAN CARLOS I, KING OF SPAIN, MAKE KNOWN TO ALL THOSE WHO MAY HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PRESENT,...
Article 2
The Constitution is based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation, the common and indivisible country of all Spaniards;....
Article 8
1. The mission Of the Armed Forces, comprising the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, is to guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain and to defend her territorial integrity and the Constitutional order.
If that's what they want, the Catalans have as much right to sovereignty as we have.
It's still the military getting involved in politics. Pick a country where that happens and I'll show you a hellhole. Sounds like a good thing to nip nonsense like this in the bud, even if politically this general would be far closer to the average FReeper than the current Spanish government.
Read what the issue actually is:
"Lt. Gen. Jose Mena Aguado was placed under house arrest over the weekend after he said that the military would step in if the government granted greater autonomy to the northern region."
That is treason.
Such political matters are for the freely elected Government to decide and not for a General to decide.
That is a bedrock principle of the United States of America which is why this country has been spared the misery of "Caudillismo" that plagued the Spain of my ancestors and the Cuba I was born in.
---Spain seems to be in the midst of a bit of a melt down recently.---
No central leadership.
Catalans have their own language. There is nothing that breaks a country apart faster than different people having their own language (Canada vs Quebec anyone?)
On the other hand, the Spanish treat the Catalans like second class citizens.
I don't think that's what happened. They were just granted more autonomy in some matters.
Caldonia! Caldonia! what makes your big head so hard?
I dunno. The last line of the article clearly states that Catalan will now be a 'country'. I've never heard of a country that was anything but independant.
"In September, Catalan regional government approved a new statute referring to Catalonia as a country and gives the province greater control of its judiciary and tax collection."
The real word used in the text is "nacion" that I don't know if is accurately translated by "nation". The discussion point is what does that mean, everyone seem to see clear that it doesn't involve independence right now but some are afraid that in the future it can be used to go further while others say that's not the intention.
To make it more complicated the nowadays constitution defines Catalunya as a "nacionalidad" (nacionality???) so some people ask how can you have a nacionality if there's no nation.. and so on and on...
my personal opinion is that this issue, that has been there for a couple of centuries, is now being used to adress other issues like the economical rivalry Madrid/Barcelona.
I don't want to get too long but if you want more information just check my post in
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1553833/posts
"Not according to the Spanish Constitution"
Yes, the same constitution stablishes that the only one abled to decide what's constitutional is the constitutional court and the only one abled to decide a military move is the congress so under my opinion he was wildly exceeding his responsabilities.
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